Hmm ended up a lot busier than I thought I would be over the hols. so going to keep this brief.
Gann said the first 5 to 7 trading days often set the tone for the rest of the year so let's see how that goes.
This years looks like being the most challenging to trade ever with the host of problems on the horizon...
1) I expect natural disasters to continue to increase and the chance is one of these is going to play havoc with some big economy
2) I will be shocked and delighted if we get through 2012 without war in the middle east. If it kicks off there are too many big players too close to the powder keg and it might get nasty with potential for WMD's.
3) The knock effect of a war to oil and then stocks will be greater than we have ever seen.
4) Terrorism could be beyond control
5) Sovereign debt looms like a major firestorm
6) Manipulation of the markets by governments and central banks will likely increase
7) Big player fraud seems to be in an upward trend
8) Regulations to save us from everything from carbon to imagined trading volatility can create a real mess
9) Elvis may return and run the IMF, though that would be a good thing.
What does this all add up to? A wall of worry. What does a bull market climb? Yip - a wall of worry. So having painted a nasty backdrop and being aware we are in an election year when stocks do NOT have a history of crashing, I will need to beware of.. well.. everything
The first thing I am going to do before I call a big short is see how the FTSE handles the resistance tomorrow as a lead indicator because the Dow needs to climb about 200 pts to get to such a significant point.
There is the possibility of further strength coming into the market and I love to take a contrarian position if there is strong sentiment for a move. I was bullish for this move up from the lows expecting it to get up here in both time and price. Now we are up here I am not convinced it is over so I need the market to tell me what is next.
In any event nimble trading is going to be a lifesaver against the likelihood of bad news that puts the market into a tail spin.
Watch the FTSE tomorrow.